Marketing

  • Ideas for Visual Marketing in 2018

    What Is Visual Marketing?

    To be successful at creative visual marketing it’s important to understand what it means, how it works, and the tools that you need to make it work. That’s why it’s called “creative” and in 2018 that’s what audiences are looking for.

    We know that most people are visually oriented. According to David Hyerle, the brain can absorb 36,000 images every minute and 80-90 percent of information received from the brain is through the eyes. Wow, if that isn’t mind blowing. Keep in mind that the brain is a visual organ. So, to me it just makes since that using visual marketing should be a key factor in our marketing mix.

    Creative Visual Marketing

    Visual marketing allows us to use a variety of design elements, graphics, photographs and videos to tell the story of our brands. The visual cues we use to tell that story will help make our brand more memorable to everyone who views the information. No wonderful live streaming and broadcasting has become so popular and keeps growing.

    Pictures tell stories in ways that words cannot. Pictures combined with text will make your story come to life in a new way. Marketing is all about communicating a detailed message to a specific audience. And today’s online tools can help you create very effective images to help complete your marketing story and gain momentum online.

    There are free or low-cost options to help you integrate visual eye candy. There is Canva, PicMonkey or Stencil.

    https://getstencil.com


    Anytime you have the chance to include images in your marketing − whether it’s your social media profile, your website, your blog, or an advertisement, do so and give a lot of thought to every image that you put on your marketing material.

    Using visual prompts helps tell your story and will attract the people in your audience who are interested in the topic but who don’t want to read a long text-based story. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is the case, the graphic images you show will enable you to tell your audience a thousand words of information with just a simple glance from them. Keep in mind that a lot of people skim what they are reading these days.

    Plus, when you use graphics, photos, and/or video with your text information, blog posts, and sales pages, you make it easier and more likely that others will share the information via social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. In addition, it makes it easier for the search engines to locate the information due to the tags you place with the images. So be sure to use tags!

    Using all the visually creative marketing material that you can craft will help you get information out to more people, because they will be more likely to share something that is great to look at.

    Types of Visual Marketing

    There are many types of visual marketing that you can choose from such as:

    [ez_two]

    • Banners
    • Blog posts
    • Books
    • Brochures
    • Business cards
    • Direct mail
    • Flyers
    • Games
    • Giveaways
    • Graphics
    • Infographics
    • Kiosks

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    • Letters
    • Live Streaming
    • Newsletters
    • Postcards
    • Premiums (tote bags, cups, shirts)
    • Presentations
    • Press releases
    • Social networking campaigns
    • Screen casting
    • Webinars
    • Widgets
    • YouTube videos

    [/ez_two_last]

    Creative Visual Marketing

    Depending on the marketing channel you’re using, you’ll use one or more of these visual marketing tactics. If you can figure out a way to add visual interest to every marketing campaign, you’ll experience more success and reach your goals faster than if you don’t.

    So, let’s look at how to stand out visually and best practices.

    Stand Out Visually

    Choosing the right images can make your content and marketing stand out better than plain textual content. You can use creative copy, gorgeous typography and graphical images that bring your content to life, and draw the eye through the copy quickly.

    • White Space – When you create anything graphical and textual it’s imperative to include plenty of white space by using bullets, spacing, and the right fonts. Choose images wisely and for a reason. Every word and every image should have a “why” for being in your marketing material.
    • Color – It might take a little research into your target audience to figure out which colors will get the most positive reaction. You may want to cause emotions to come forth in your audience that only color can elicit. But, every audience is different, so it’ll take some research, understanding and testing to pick the right colors.
    • Contrast – The more ways that you can make your call to action stand out from the rest of the copy and images, the better. By using contrast such as black/white, white/gray, or other colors that contrast but do not cause your audience’s retinas to burn, you can create the view you want to attract your audience’s eyes where you want them.
    • Surprise – Most people today are practically blind to advertisements, and anything that wants to sell them something. The way to overcome this ad blindness is to use visuals to surprise the viewer. Change the fonts; make the CTA stand out such that your audience cannot miss it.
    • Encapsulation – Use robust, vibrant shapes to highlight your call to action or anything you want to draw interest to. Put your call to action inside a highlighted, outlined box, or other form that will enclose it to draw attention to it.
    • Arrows – Using directional cues will also help draw the reader’s eye toward the information that you want them to see. Anytime you want your reader to imagine the future or some destination in the future, for example, you could show a picture of a road that will take them on a trip.

    We looked at what creative visual marketing is and its value for our future marketing efforts online.  The psychological factor and how the brain works in absorbing visual information. We also looked at how pictures tell stories and when combined with text attract readers attention. And we know that visually appealing images results in more social media shares.

    Also, we looked at the different types of visual marketing options and how we can engage the reader’s imagination with our marketing efforts through well-known visual cues that help your reader get to the mindset that you want. And over time, as you study your audience, you’ll come to know what types of visual cues will work best with them.

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  • Best Practices After a Livestream Broadcast

    Livestreaming

    So you have decided to use live stream broadcating in your marketing mix. Wise decision since this form of connecting with your audience it SUPER HOT! But once it’s over what do you do next? Remember video is content too so be sure to use it.

    Giving away free information has always been a great way to attract customers into your sales funnel. People still do it because it works if you have the right formula. What is important when giving away information is to make sure it is over-the-top quality and delivers value. Otherwise, people are not going to watch it or read it and it will collect digital dust.

    Live stream broadcasts by contrast, present a higher level of interactivity. Of course, it needs to be said that if your broadcast is boring or does not offer great information, you will lessen the chance of achieving your intended results of getting eyes and ears on your broadcast. Your message will be lost.

    Memberships

    An effective idea on what to use your broadcasts for, is to set up a membership for the broadcasts. Facebook groups or a website membership site are good ways to share your streaming broadcasts. Keep in mind though Facebook terms of service will not allow you to charge members to join your group but your group can be a benefit to an online membership. So decide whether you want to charge members, or keep the membership free and monetize in other ways, like affiliate marketing or advertising.

    The broadcasts can be the foundation of the membership but you are certainly free to add more to it. In fact, you could set up a hybrid membership that allows free members to view the broadcasts but the premium members will get extra content. There are various WordPress plugins that can provide you with membership options like Woo Commerce, WP eMember or Easy Digital Downloads.

    Livestreaming

    YouTube

    Another possibility is to set up a YouTube channel where you will add each broadcast after they are complete. Then, it’s simply a matter of getting people to your broadcasts and asking them to subscribe to your channel. Again, it all must do with quality so if you keep your broadcasts at high quality, people will gladly subscribe. Keep in mind, that you can also livestream from YouTube. As a matter of fact, YouTube is working on enhancing their platform to work better on mobile, too.

    Mashups

    A third possibility is to network with other broadcasters and put together a mashup of related broadcasts. Mashups are fun and take the pressure off just one person providing all the content. This can be done via Joint Venture (JV) relationship. And it can be sold as a larger package and all the JV partners will send traffic to this mega-product but this is a more advanced process that is not for the newbie.

    These are several ways that you can reuse the broadcasts that you create. The one thing you should not do is let your broadcasts sit idle. Always find methods to put them to use so that they can keep working for you. Think outside the box!

    Be sure to connect with us on social media so you can see our live streaming broadcasts.

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  • Major Challenges with Live Video Streaming on Mobile

    Live stream broadcasting is exciting and people are jumping on it like wild fires. But there are some key challenges that people using the technology are going to run up against. Bandwidth and buffering being two that come to mind.

    MOBILE STREAMINGMobile Streaming

    Bandwidth has two issues. Video coupled with audio, uses a high amount of bandwidth. If you are one of those lucky enough to have a data plan on your smartphone with unlimited data usage, you probably have nothing to worry about. Although, talk to people that have reached a high amount of usage even on those plans. They will tell you their providers complain about fair use, etc.

    If you have a plan that is limited, you could end up paying some hefty overage fees if you go over the limit. This may not be a problem if you can monetize because of the broadcasts you are doing. But you will need to make more than the extra charges that your smart device is running up.

    Of course, if you are broadcasting from your home, you could easily set your phone up to use your Wi Fi connection. This will circumvent any usage on your data plan, if your Wi Fi usage is still unlimited. At this point, most home internet plans allow for unlimited use. It remains to be seen if that will last forever.

    Buffering can occur if you have a slow connection

    Video StreamingIf you plan on broadcasting, it is a good idea to stop any background processes from running during the broadcast. Also, you may want to shut down any file sharing and file uploads while the broadcast is running. Remember, you want to make the experience for your viewers as smooth as possible. Since broadcasting is live, any buffering will cause delays for your viewers. This will likely get them to move on from your broadcasts. The idea is to keep them coming back not to scare them off.

    It’s going to be interesting to see, now that live video streaming has exploded onto the scene, how that will affect data plan prices going forward. It could be just the thing needed to motivate the phone service providers into offering more robust plans. These plans may come at a higher price, at least initially. But that is certainly a better option than having to pay per minute overages any time you go over your limits. Besides, as more phone service providers scramble to get your business, the result will likely be lower prices across the board.

    Keep in mind,  there is always the alternative of just broadcasting from your desktop. Although not all platforms support that option. Whatever way you go always keep your followers in mind. Make a great experience for them and they will keep coming back.

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  • Connecting with Your Audience by Using Live Stream Marketing

    Live StreamingIn marketing, we are told repeatedly to connect with our followers. We email our lists of customers that have bought products from us before. However, they don’t always get to know us as they would if we had a brick and morter business. Also, unless we are constantly sending them emails and/or offers, they are more likely to forget about us. That is until you start to introduce live stream marketing into the mix.

    Don’t get me wrong, email marketing is still a fantastic way to connect with your followers but having multiple ways to stay connected to your audience is the way to go because relying on just one source is never the best practice for marketing your business.

    With live stream marketing, you have a way of speaking directly to your customer. You can give them tips and tricks about your products, or you can simply use the medium to keep in touch. You can even ask them if they have any questions or concerns about the products/services that you offer. It can also be used to let them know about your future events.

    Using a Personal Touch

    There’s not too much in the marketing world that gets as personal as live stream media. Unless you plan on contacting to every person on your list, one-on-one via phone, broadcasting via video is the next best thing. Customers will appreciate this kind of engagement because they see it is an actual person running the video. It turns a cold customer into a warm one and a warm customer into a hot one. This increases the trust factor of your customers by a wide margin. The hotter your customers are with respect to trust, the easier it is to get them to buy from you.

    Are You Afraid of the Camera?

    I find that doing a ton of practicing helps you get over it. So, practice, practice. If you have some family members or friends that you can rehearse with as a live audience, then that is very helpful. It also allows you to get comfortable with using whatever platform you stream from. Live Video

    If you are camera shy, you still have options when it comes to live stream. Work with a co-host, outsource the broadcast or bring on a team member or partner to do this part of your marketing.  The person you choose to do the streaming should be on board with what you are trying to accomplish. A complement to your goals. The best way around this is to find people that you have worked with on a long-term basis who are as comfortable with you as you are with them.

    If your monetizing this part of your marketing, you can offer them a percentage of the sales that come from the product you are selling or a flat fee.

    The field is wide open for live stream marketing and it’s going to be interesting to see which players come to the foreground and which don’t. One thing is certain; it’s going to be a great ride for marketers overall.

    If this area of your marketing is foreign to you and you don’t know how to get started reach out to us. We can help coach you through the process so that you can feel more comfortable with live streaming. 

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  • How to Get the Most Out of Your Live Stream Broadcasting

    LivestreamsLive stream broadcasts are extremely popular. Smartphones have made it easy to broadcast to your followers. It’s a create way to promote your business. Here are some tips that top live stream broadcasters use to get the most out of their broadcasts.

    Relevancy

    Broadcasting your dog jumping to catch a Frisbee is fun for dog lovers. But if your followers are entrepreneurs who are looking to market their business, it’s a good bet that you’re going to lose them quickly with broadcasts like these. So needless to say, you want to have an idea of what your topic is going to be and stick to it. It’s okay occasionally to go off on a tangent just as long as it is somewhat related to your topic or it’s about building a more personal rapport with your audience.

    Be a Storyteller

    If you get nothing else out of this post, make sure you pay special attention to this one. Storytelling is going to be the secret sauce to your success as a live stream broadcaster. Since the beginning of time, people have been telling stories as a way of entertaining and educating. It takes some practice, but is well worth the effort.

    Trust

    Even if you never expect to collect a dime from your viewers, build up trust with them. You do this on camera by being yourself and being genuine. Don’t try to trick them or lie to them. Be straightforward and forthcoming.

    Enthusiastic

    There is nothing that will get viewers to hit the exit button for your broadcast quicker than a lack of enthusiasm. Broadcasts are very much like being on TV. If there is a show on TV that is boring, you are going to most likely switch it off. People want entertainment. This takes pratice, trust me, the more animated you are the better the broadcast.

    Engaging

    This word gets overused. But what it means in the context of broadcasting is to encourage viewers to give feedback. Likes and comments are currency in many of the live stream platforms like Facebook Live and Periscope. If someone signs on and says hello in the chat, acknowledge them by saying their name. If they have questions, try to answer them immediately or at least let them know you will hold a Q&A at the end of the broadcast.

    Captivate Your Audiencelive streaming

    You need to hold the attention of the people that are watching your broadcast. Simply reading a script, or from something that you memorized, just isn’t going to cut it in this type of medium. You want to elicit excitement so that they not only stay on the broadcast, but they can’t wait for the next one to start. You can do this by asking a lot of questions that lead to a yes answer. For example, you could ask, “who wants to use my method to make thousands of dollars?” Who wouldn’t answer yes to that? You see this all the time in webinars. The same technique should be employed in your broadcasts. Get their juices flowing, so to speak.

    Give Massive Value

    Whether you are solving a problem for your audience or you are simply giving a tutorial, make it great. When you broadcast, you are essentially stealing away a chunk of your viewers’ time which is something in short supply for most of us. That’s a big responsibility. Let it be worthwhile.

    I hope these tips are helpful and give you some great ideas as to how to make your broadcast more authentic, engaging and relevant so that your followers want more.

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  • 7 Ideas for Your Live Streams

    I’ve been blogging about LIVE streaming a lot and will continue to do so because it’s such a HOT way for you to market your business and it’s only going to get bigger according to all the experts out there like Buffer. Check out their post “The State of Social Media 2016” where they talk about how video content marketing is only going to be growing even bigger in 2017.

    Twitter saw the value in this and bought Periscope before it even released its product. Facebook invested a lot and continues to do so in Facebook LIVE. Be prepared to see a lot of video in your feeds.

    I know that most people are confused as to what to broadcast since many people can find being in front of a video camera intimidating enough so I thought I would put some ideas together for you. It’s easier when you have a plan.

    Repurposed Content

    PeriscopeIf you have been doing online marketing for a long period, there is a pretty good chance you already have a blog or website and have been actively filling it with content. If so, you can use the content from your website as material for your broadcasts. In fact, you can set up a weekly broadcast and discuss one post each week.

    The key to doing this correctly is to make sure you are consistent with your broadcasts. Do them the same day and same time every week. Make sure to have a question and answer period at the end as this is how to get people coming back.

    One way to entice them to join the broadcasts is to offer to give something away but only to those who attend the broadcast. The freebie will be announced at the end. It’s a good idea to make the freebies valuable so they will want to get one each week. A list of great tips is one idea on what to give away.

    Content from Private Label Rights (PLR)

    A lot of people are not familiar with PLR or Private Label Rights/White Label Content. It’s a less expense option than having a ghost writer especially if your trying to keep your budget low. PLR offers you content that you are licensed to make your own so you don’t have to always write from scratch. Our sister company PLR for Business  is committed to producing quality information and products for your business content needs.

    The great thing is that you can take a PLR product and use it in many ways to like live streaming topics. This will help you stand out as an authority which builds the trust needed for your audience to keep coming back.

    Tutorials

    People love to learn new skills. By using broadcasts to teach them something new is going to bring them back repeatedly. This is a great method for engaging your audience with valuable information.

    The topics that you can broadcast about are only limited by your imagination. This is one of those situations where you want to think outside the box to come up with ideas that others are not.

    Roundups and Industry News

    People often don’t have time to find information online or don’t know how to do much more than a simple Google search. If you provide regular broadcasts containing information about the key companies within your industry, you will find your audience to be quite receptive to this.

    You want to make yourself the authority in your industry. Be the person that everyone goes to for information surrounding your niche or market. Scan for news stories and interesting facts about the people in the industry. This can also be a great way to network with these people by letting them know ahead of time that you plan on talking about them in your broadcast. They may even invite people in their own network and lists to sit in on the broadcasts.

    video streamingProduct Reviews

    Most people look for reviews when they are researching products online. Doing so in a broadcast takes it to a whole new level. People will pick up on your emotions as you tell them what’s good or bad about the product being reviewed.

    Product Demonstrations

    It’s one thing to read about the features of a product, but another altogether to see it demonstrated live. The difficulty here is that you need access to the products being demonstrated. But guess what? You can reach out to the product creators and ask if they will send you the products for free. They may be quite receptive to doing this, especially if you are showing the features of their products live on a broadcast. Don’t expect them to be receptive if you don’t have good things to say about the products, though.

    Interviews

    I’ve mentioned this one before but it’s a good one. People love to hear from industry experts via interviews. If you can manage to invite someone who is an expert, this can make for a great broadcast. You will probably need a selfie stick to pass the camera back and forth or just seat next to each other.

    Keep in mind there are new apps being worked on as we speak to bring you together with a co-host via your smartphones and desktop for Facebook LIVE. But don’t forget Google Hangouts on Air still lives as part of YouTube Livesteaming options so you can still do them there for now.

    As you can see, the only limits on what to broadcast are the ones you put on yourself. Use these ideas as well as others to become a leader in the live streaming space.

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  • 6 Ways Businesses Can Use Livestream Broadcasts

    live streaming

    There is a lot of buzz around live stream broadcasting. Have you tried it out yet? You may be unsure on how businesses can use this type of marketing. As time goes on we are likely to see some creative ways that other businesses dive into it but for now let’s look at the 6 more common uses.

    Interviews

    Most businesses can take advantage of interviewing experts in their field. Perhaps the business owner himself will want to be the one interviewed. It is simply a matter of finding someone to interview you and creating the broadcast. But even that isn’t completely necessary as you can run the interview on your own. You simply come up with questions that you want your viewers to know the answers to, then you start broadcasting those answers.

    Customer Q&A

    Why not invite several of your trusted customers to jump on a live stream broadcast and let them ask you questions about your products and services? They can also tell you what they like about your products and what areas could be improved. This is a golden opportunity to connect directly with them and get some great feedback.

    business tipsBusiness Tips 

    Any business can offer to give tips about the business to customers and potential customers. Plumbers could teach people how to identify leaks in pipes. Marketers can give tips about how to increase conversions in a sales funnel, etc. These are just two of many examples.

    Testimonials

    Testimonials help sell more products. Potential customers love to know that others had a great experience with products and there is no better way to provide this than to use testimonials. The challenge will be in convincing customers to do so via a live broadcast. The apps available from Facebook and Periscope have made it quite easy for anyone to create a broadcast with smartphones. A word of caution about testimonials: be sure to ask the customers to provide an honest testimonial. Governments are cracking down on false testimonials or ones that are given in exchange for cash or awards.

    Before and After Broadcasts

    Any company whose business model is to transform something into something better, can easily employ before and after broadcasts. This can help show potential customers just what kind of work the business is capable of doing.

    Crowdfunding

    You can use broadcasting to state your case when you want to raise funds for your business initiatives. You can give information on where the money is going to go. You can also let potential funders know what kinds of rewards are available (if any) at certain levels of funding. Also, you can get people that have pledged money to state why they chose to fund your initiatives.

    I hope you found this list helpful to get you started on ways to use live streaming apps. If you need help in developing a strong online marketing plan reach out to me. I offer coaching and consulting services to help businesses like yours grow their prescence online.

    Here’s to Your Business Success!

    Wanda

     

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  • Live Streaming and Business

    The History of Live Streaming

     

    Live streaming

    Live streaming is touted to be one of the ‘big new deals’ when it comes to digital marketing. There has never been something quite like this and the rate at which it has grown in even the first few months is rather remarkable.

    Experts speculate that live streaming is going to be massive, but we don’t have to speculate. All you have to do is to take a look at the statistics which make it rather clear just what a big deal live streaming is going to be!

    Did you know for instance that Periscope has already managed to accrue a very impressive 10,000,000 user accounts?

    And did you know that if you combined all the footage ever recorded on the platform, it would take you over 40 years to watch all of it? 2 million people log in every single day, distributed across 25 countries! And when you consider how big Facebook is (it has more users than the population of any country in the world); it’s easy to imagine that live streaming is about to explode in an even bigger way!

     

    Where it All Began

     

    But where did this all begin? It may surprise some to realize that Periscope actually wasn’t the first live streaming site to make it big. Instead, that accolade belongs to Meerkat, which launched in March 2015. Back then it was known as ‘AIR’ and ‘Yevvo’ and it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a big game changer in social media marketing.

    At first, Twitter helped this success and worked closely with Meerkat. Shortly after though, the company clearly decided they needed their own contender in this new space; which is when they bought the then-small Periscope for a sum of $100 million!

     

    Facebook’s Entry

     

    Facebook From there, Facebook decided to get involved and rolled out an experimental live service for its best-known members aka celebrities. In December 2015, this was extended across Android and iOS devices, and later it made its way across the pond.

    And Facebook is currently taking this movement very seriously, stating that live video enjoys much more engagement compared to other types of video, and that they imagine a time where one-day video is the primary form of content. The ranking algorithm that dictates what gets seen on the home feed has been tweaked to prefer live video and marketers everywhere are getting excited.

    Newer features are coming into the service all the time and in short – this is a very good time to be involved with Facebook Live.

     

    So what are you waiting for? Need more information on how to be successful with Facebook Live? Check out our eBook product, “How to Successfully Use Facebook Live” which comes with some awesome bonuses. 

    Also, check out our event page for upcoming “Facebook Live” training. 

    Facebook Live

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  • Hyperlocal Marketing and Its Benefits to Your Business

    Hyperlocal MarketingMarketing your business locally is clearly important to your bottom line. Hyperlocal marketing addresses just that. By definition it is focused marketing that targets a community within a local geographic area with the hopes of creating repeat business.

     

    To be successful with this type of marketing it is important to first develop a plan by getting to know your target audience, finding more than one marketing channel that works, and then you can rinse and repeat.

     

    So let’s talk about five hyperlocal options to market your business:

     

    Newspaper/Magazine Advertising

    Not only can you advertise in your local publication; you can also use your local paper to participate with your community.

     

    Event announcements, promotions, or anything special in the paper related to your target market can provide you with a way to initiate communications by simply dropping them a note of congratulations.

     

    Event Sponsoring

    Whether it’s a charity or a business event, step up and sponsor something. You can do this via the chamber of commerce or a charity, and you won’t regret it. Whether it’s hosting the entire event or buying up one table for your business associates, your name will get out there.

     

    Sponsoring speakers who are not competitors but are in a complimentary business can also be a way for you to have an opportunity to address a live audience of potential clients. I have personally found this a successful model.

     

    Local Networking Groups

    Check Meetup.com for local networking groups that consist of your target audience, or local businesses who service your target audience. Then participate fully so that you become a known expert in your niche. Be a presenter. You could even start your own group.

     

    Check out my post on networking.

     

    Personal Networking

    Never underestimate the power of personal networking. Call on your friends, family, and community to promote your business every chance you can. Definitely practice gratitude in return, by doing a great job for the clients they recommend, maybe offering a restaurant gift card or just a heartfelt thank you. And if they have a business, maybe you can return the favor.

     

    The Follow-Up

    This is something, believe it or not, that many small business owners do very poorly. I see it all the time. They meet people at events, or get a phone call from a contact, and then do not follow up. This is a big mistake. Follow up no matter what. Even if someone turns out not to be a fit for your business, you might be able to connect them with someone else, and they won’t forget you.

     

    Check out my post about following up

     

    hyperlocal marketingAnother thing to consider is someone else’s rolodex could be an opportunity for you to meet someone that you may not have been able to. You know that seven degrees of separation. If your community is smaller that could be even less.

     

    By putting these hyperlocal marketing resources into practice you’ll increase your business, improve your reputation, and develop a local following that will be loyal and profitable. Believe me I have personally seen this work for my own business as well as others.

     

    Using these local methods in conjunction with blogs, websites, social media and more will keep your business at the top of people’s minds in your local community.

     

    Remember that with any of these methods it’s important to repeat each technique more than once. No marketing works in a one-off manner. All marketing needs to be done multiple times to be effective. It must be repeated, tested, and done again. Always keep testing your methods, do more of what is working, and less of what doesn’t work and stay consistent.

     

    Hyperlocal marketing benefits not only your own business but also your community. By keeping dollars local and business local, tax dollars stay in your area. Not only that – building a local community interested in what you offer just feels great because you’re contributing to the local economy in terms of jobs, taxes, and more.

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  • What You Need to Know for Your Website Design

    website development

     

    When you first start out creating your website, or talking to a company like ours to develop one for you you’re going to have to stop and ask yourself, “What is the purpose of your website?” If you don’t know, it’s hard to create the website because without a purpose it’s impossible to get started. Not only that, it’s hard to use your website the right way if you don’t even know why you have it.

     

     

    Do You Want a Niche Affiliate Website?

     

     

    This is generally like an authority or expert website that is devoted to promoting someone else’s products or services using the code that they provide. This type of site requires the ability to place a lot of content and information on it, as well as a lead capturing service like AWeber.com, and it needs to be devoted specifically to the niche you want to support. It’s a lot like an authority website except it will promote other people’s products or services.

     

     

    Do You Want to Sell Products or Services?

     

     

    If this is the point of your website, then you’ll need an e-commerce website. It will need shopping cart technology, the proper security, the right type of server capacity, and a way to pull traffic and handle leads that don’t purchase right away. Knowing up front that you want to sell products or services directly from your site will help you explain to a web designer what you need.

     

     

    Do You Want to Generate Leads?

     

     

    Building a lead-generating website requires a little less technology than the e-commerce site, but it still requires such things as an autoresponder, special landing pages, attractive design and keyword-rich content that is devoted to educating the audience and collecting names to market to later (usually via an autoresponder system like AWeber.com or MailChimp.com).

     

    website development

     

    Do You Want an Authority Website?

     

     

    Many experts like to establish their online presence by creating an authority website. Usually they will fill the site with articles, blog posts, and information relating to their specific niche as well as possibly a portfolio and links to other work they’ve done that establishes their expertise more fully. This website basically requires the same technology as the lead-generating site, but it will be set up in a more personal way with the expert as the center of the website.

     

     

    Do You Want a Locally or Nationally Focused Website?

     

     

    Another important factor in considering the purpose of your site is whether you want to attract a local or national audience? If you have a local business where all of your foot traffic will come from people passing through or who live in your city, then of course you want a locally focused site. If you have a business that can be recognized nationally such as being an author, or selling products online, then you want to focus your website nationally. There are a lot of differences to the two that need to be understood before getting started.

     

     

    The makeup of your site also has many characteristics that are always important, regardless of the purpose. All need a lead capturing system with an autoresponder like AWeber.com and all need to have a beautiful and responsive design. But they each have their own purpose that needs to be clear when someone visits the site. Knowing your purpose will increase the marketability of your website exponentially. After reading this, do you know the purpose of your website? If not, contact me and I would be glad to help you figure out what direction to take.

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